Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

In Saving Capitalism, Robert Reich reveals the entrenched cycles of power and influence that have damaged American capitalism, perpetuating a new oligarchy in which the 1 percent get ever richer and the rest - middle and working class alike - lose ever more economic agency, making for the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity since World War II.

Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy, and How to Fix Them

Robert B. Reich urges Americans to get beyond mere outrage about the nation’s increasingly concentrated wealth and corrupt politics in order to mobilize and to take back our economy and democracy. Americans can’t rely only on getting good people elected, Reich argues, because nothing positive happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized to help make those things happen after the election. But in order to be effectively mobilized, we need to see the big picture.

Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America

From Robert B. Reich, passionate believer in American democracy and public servant, Reason is a guide to confronting and derailing what he sees as the mounting threat to American liberty, prosperity, and security posed by the radical conservatives, Radcons as he calls them.

Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In

When Bernie Sanders began his race for the presidency, it was considered by the political establishment and the media to be a "fringe" campaign, something not to be taken seriously. After all, he was just an independent senator from a small state with little name recognition. His campaign had no money, no political organization, and it was taking on the entire Democratic Party establishment. By the time Sanders' campaign came to a close, however, it was clear that the pundits had gotten it wrong.

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future

The author of 12 acclaimed books, Robert B. Reich is a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served in three national administrations. While many blamed Wall Street for the financial meltdown, Aftershock points a finger at a national economy in which wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top - and where a grasping middle class simply does not have the resources to remain viable.

The top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of the nation's wealth. And, as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains, while those at the top enjoy the best health care, education, and benefits of wealth, they fail to realize that "their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live." Stiglitz draws on his deep understanding of economics to show that growing inequality is not inevitable. He examines our current state, then teases out its implications for democracy, for monetary and budgetary policy, and for globalization. He closes with a plan for a more just and prosperous future.

A major new collection from "arguably the most important intellectual alive" (The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power.

Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?

It is a widespread belief among liberals that if only Democrats can continue to dominate national elections, if only those awful Republicans are beaten into submission, the country will be on the right course. But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the modern Democratic Party. Drawing on years of research and first-hand reporting, Frank points out that the Democrats have done little to advance traditional liberal goals: expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal.

The Economics of Inequality

Succinct, accessible, and authoritative, Thomas Piketty’s The Economics of Inequality is the ideal place to start for those who want to understand the fundamental issues at the heart of one the most pressing concerns in contemporary economics and politics. This work now appears in English for the first time.

The Only Game in Town: Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse

Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, one of the world's most influential economic thinkers and the author of When Markets Collide, has written a road map to what lies ahead and the decisions we must make now to stave off the next global economic and financial crisis. Our current economic path is coming to an end. The signposts are all around us: sluggish growth, rising inequality, stubbornly high pockets of unemployment, and jittery financial markets, to name a few. Soon we will reach a fork in the road.

A Fighting Chance

As a child in small-town Oklahoma, Elizabeth Warren yearned to go to college and then become an elementary school teacher - an ambitious goal, given her family’s modest means. Early marriage and motherhood seemed to put even that dream out of reach, but 15 years later she was a distinguished law professor with a deep understanding of why people go bankrupt. Then came the phone call that changed her life: could she come to Washington, DC, to help advise Congress on rewriting the bankruptcy laws?

An Economic History of the World since 1400

Most of us have a limited understanding of the powerful role economics has played in shaping human civilization. This makes economic history - the study of how civilizations structured their environments to provide food, shelter, and material goods - a vital lens through which to think about how we arrived at our present, globalized moment. Designed to fill a long-empty gap in how we think about modern history, these 48 lectures are a comprehensive journey through more than 600 years of economic history.

Who Rules the World?

In an incisive, thorough analysis of the current international situation, Noam Chomsky argues that the United States, through its military-first policies and its unstinting devotion to maintaining a world-spanning empire, is both risking catastrophe and wrecking the global commons.

Jen says:"Makes you realize those who scream conspiracy are closer to the truth than we would hope!"

The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them

In The Great Divide, Joseph E. Stiglitz expands on the diagnosis he offered in his best-selling book The Price of Inequality and suggests ways to counter America's growing problem. With his signature blend of clarity and passion, Stiglitz argues that inequality is a choice - the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities.

Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business

Eight years on from the biggest market meltdown since the Great Depression, the key lessons of the crisis of 2008 still remain unlearned - and our financial system is just as vulnerable as ever. Many of us know that our government failed to fix the banking system after the subprime mortgage crisis. But what few of us realize is how the misguided financial practices and philosophies that nearly toppled the global financial system have come to infiltrate all American businesses, putting us on a collision course with another cataclysmic meltdown.

The Wealth of Nations

The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.

The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap

Poverty goes up. Crime goes down. The prison population doubles. Fraud by the rich wipes out 40 percent of the world’s wealth. The rich get massively richer. No one goes to jail. In search of a solution, journalist Matt Taibbi discovered the Divide, the seam in American life where our two most troubling trends - growing wealth inequality and mass incarceration - come together, driven by a dramatic shift in American citizenship: Our basic rights are now determined by our wealth or poverty.

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the rise of a broad-based conservative movement.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories.

The Essential Bernie Sanders and His Vision for America

Meet the essential Bernie Sanders, an authentic and uncompromising champion of the people. Independent United States Senator Bernie Sanders, who has a 35-year career in public service, first as Burlington, Vermont's mayor then as Vermont's sole representative to Congress, and currently as a United States senator, is now campaigning to become president of the United States.

Misquoting Jesus

When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today.

Wages of Rebellion

Revolutions come in waves and cycles. We are again riding the crest of a revolutionary epic, much like 1848 or 1917, from the Arab Spring to movements against austerity in Greece to the Occupy movement. In Wages of Rebellion, Chris Hedges - who has chronicled the malaise and sickness of a society in terminal moral decline in his books Empire of Illusion and Death of the Liberal Class - investigates what social and psychological factors cause revolution, rebellion, and resistance.

The Science of Energy: Resources and Power Explained

To better put into perspective the various issues surrounding energy in the 21st century, you need to understand the essential science behind how energy works. And you need a reliable source whose focus is on giving you the facts you need to form your own educated opinions.

Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever. These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life.

Publisher's Summary

Since the 1970s, and notwithstanding three recessions, the U.S. economy has soared. Consumers have been treated to a vast array of new products, while the prices of standard goods and services have declined. Companies have also become far more efficient, and the stock market has surged. In short, American capitalism has been a triumph, and it has spread throughout the world.

At the same time, argues the former U.S. secretary of labor, Robert B. Reich, the effectiveness of democracy in America has declined. It has grown less responsive to the citizenry, and people are feeling more and more helpless as a result. In Supercapitalism, Reich discusses how capitalism has spilled over into politics, how it threatens democracy, and how citizens both benefit from and lose out because of supercapitalism.

What the Critics Say

"A thought-provoking analysis....A must-read for anyone interested in the health of American democracy." (Laura Tyson, former chairman, National Economic Council)
"Supercapitalism reminds us that the power of political courage grows when it is joined with clear thinking." (Bill Bradley, author of The New American Story)

The book carefully explains the rise of and the impact of hyper-competition on business. This is not new to Reich and is probably dealt with in more detail elsewhere, but Reich’s treatment is very good. He then points out that this change has emasculated some aspects of democracy. Something that Al Gore has also written about. He then says that the solution has to be better policing of the marketplace and more carful construction of the rules of law. Of course, only government can do this.

Reich has had a string of really good books. This one is very good, but perhaps not quite as good as some of his others.

It’s important to say what he says. It’s an important response to the free market mantra. And he’s attempting to articulate a middle ground that doesn’t involve reverting to unions and over-regulated industries or the gradual decent into lawlessness. As a political statement he may be just right. But as an intellectual statement, he fails to address the question, “How do we do this”. How do we get the government do a better job of protecting us from fraud and exploitation without gradually reverting to pre-Carter style regulation?

The book carefully explains the rise of and the impact of hyper-competition on business. This is not new to Reich and is probably dealt with in more detail elsewhere, but Reich’s treatment is very good. He then points out that this change has emasculated some aspects of democracy. Something that Al Gore has also written about. He then says that the solution has to be better policing of the marketplace and more carful construction of the rules of law. Of course, only government can do this.

Reich has had a string of really good books. This one is very good, but perhaps not quite as good as some of his others.

It’s important to say what he says. It’s an important response to the free market mantra. And he’s attempting to articulate a middle ground that doesn’t involve reverting to unions and over-regulated industries or the gradual decent into lawlessness. As a political statement he may be just right. But as an intellectual statement, he fails to address the question, “How do we do this”. How do we get the government do a better job of protecting us from fraud and exploitation without gradually reverting to pre-Carter style regulation?

Very enlightening. Should be retitled "The Mandatory Voter's Handbook." Reich's disaggregation of our inner "consumer-investor-citizen" marvelously clarifies so many social issues today. His insistence that a corporation is not an individual but a legal construct (contracts with investors) pulls the curtain away from the Wizard of Oz. The whole idea of the corporation as a "person" capable of "good corporate citizenship" masks the logical structure and purpose of companies. That's not what they are for, not what they do. They are merely assuming unto themselves the powers that should rest with our legislators. Read it and send a copy to your representatives. Narration is not stellar, but well paced, sober, and quite adequate.

Robert Reich is a Democrat, but Americans from all walks of life and perspectives will benefit by reading "Supercapitalism." In approximately the first third of the book Reich tells the story of how our economy and democracy has reached this particular juncture. In a second portion he lifts the curtain on how our competitive environment has changed. For example, he links the Viet Nam war and the dramatic increase in Japanese imports.

Finally, Reich makes some disturbing points about the decline of democracy and the dangerous role that Supercapitalism plays in its decline. Positively, he makes concrete suggestions about what we can do to regain control of our freedoms and representative form of government which are refreshing and thoughtful.

Frankly, I had a stereotypical view of Mr. Reich and his views. The caricature presented in the news deceived me. This book is well worth the effort and time the reader might invest. Everyone interested in our democracy, our economy, and our future should read this volume.

The book is really well written, wonderfully read, and informative. Interested readers might find The Lexis and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman a nice companion volume.

This should have been read by the author, as most audio books should. The reader has a most generic voice, and I find it very hard to pay attention. I've fallen asleep every time we've put it on in the car. The book is good, but the audiobook is virtually unlistenable.

This is an amazing book. It is not liberal or conservative but it get to the bottom of why our society is less equitable that used to be. Republicans and Democrats are equally culpable. I believe that he is correct in saying that companies cannot legitimately be socially responsible, but it has to be the laws which change companies.

What made the experience of listening to Supercapitalism the most enjoyable?

Mind boggling in scope. Super Capitalism is the story of the releasing of the genie from the bottle in global terms. Robert Reich explains it in astoundingly simple terms but the effect is complex and rich in details and under lying social anxiety.

What other book might you compare Supercapitalism to and why?

Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is ground breaking understanding of the state of the art of where we are as mankind develops. An in depth statement as to why we are the way we are and how we are shaping a new social fabric.

Which scene was your favorite?

How globalization has effected every society on earth and interlinked everyone and everything. Everyone within the confines of the new Supercapitalism will be integrated and actual war within those confines will be a thing of the past.

If you could give Supercapitalism a new subtitle, what would it be?

The New Reality.

Any additional comments?

After reading this, one begins to understand the absurdity of the arguments we hear every day in the media. It is like the pundits who argue against the reality of climate change, racial equality, gay marriage, etc. As I like to refer to it as the future laughing at the inane arguments against inevitability.

His analysis of the economy in the broad strokes is well done. The book also has little problem holding the attention of the reader (listener). However the reason I rated it so poorly is in part because I am always offended by "intellectuals" that think we the reader are, for lack of a better word,dumb. First he creates the impression that he has all of this information, but that he is only going to give us the simplified version. So I should believe that if we had all the information I would see his point of view? For example he asserts that the reason for the increase in lobby money is the "extreme competition" of corporations ,that does not follow Occam's razor, the simple explanation would be that Washington has money to deal out in the form of favors, contracts, laws (that would help one company vs. another) etc. This draws the corporations like flies on a corpse. If A corporation fails to participate (i.e. Microsoft) they will pay the penalty.
The second, is that he espouses Kant's theory (without crediting him). He would have us believe that the corporations giving millions to disaster relief etc. is selfish (disparagingly) not a sacrifice on their part because they did not do it "disinterestedly". So...The Corporation should act against there own interests? Or would the government? Or a citizen etc. If I give money to a charity it is not "disinterested" I either value what they are doing, or I like to feel that I am doing good.
This book should be read critically, then perhaps discarded.